旅 → 兌
Hexagram 56: The Wanderer → Hexagram 58: The Joyous Lake
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 2
六二 旅即次。懷其資。得童僕貞。
Six in the second place means: The wanderer comes to an inn. He has his property with him. He wins the steadfastness of a young servant.
Line 3
九三 旅焚其次。喪其童僕。貞厲。
Nine in the third place means: The wanderer's inn burns down. He loses the steadfastness of his young servant. Danger.
Line 4
九四 旅于處。得其資斧。我心不快。
Nine in the fourth place means: The wanderer rests in a shelter. He obtains his property and an ax. My heart is not glad.
Line 5
六五 射雉。一矢亡。終以譽命。
Six in the fifth place means: He shoots a pheasant. It drops with the first arrow. In the end this brings both praise and office.
Line 6
上九 鳥焚其巢。旅人先笑後號咷。喪牛于易。凶。
Nine at the top means: The bird's nest burns up. The wanderer laughs at first, Then must needs lament and weep. Through carelessness he loses his cow. Misfortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
秦晉大國，更相克賊。獲惠質圉，鄭被其咎。
Qin and Jin, great states, each preying upon the other. Seizing Hui, ransoming Yu; Zheng bore the blame.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire on the mountain, and the great states of Qin and Jin tear at each other in cycles of mutual aggression. The verse references the capture of Duke Hui and his son Prince Yu (Zi Yu) — hostages exchanged between the two powers — while the state of Zheng suffers collateral damage. According to the Zuo Zhuan, after the Battle of Han (645 BC), Duke Hui of Jin was captured by Duke Mu of Qin. His son Prince Yu (later Duke Huai) was sent as a hostage to Qin. The verse captures how smaller states like Zheng are ground between warring giants. From The Wanderer to The Joyous, doubled lakes in mutual delight. Yet the 'joy' here is bitterly ironic: great powers exchanging hostages and inflicting collateral ruin is fellowship perverted into predation.
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